The Instant Rice Show

alright, so i’ve been really lazy lately. i’ve also been kinda busy if that helps ease the pain of my lack of updates. as far as what’s been going on? well, not too much, but there were a few interesting events. the first one that comes to mind is the official closing of compusa. last monday, all the remaining items in the store were sold. on tuesday, all the shelving that was purchased was cleaned up and loaded onto trucks. on wednesday, the store was still technically open, but there was nothing to do. rather than rob employees of work hours, they sat around all day and did nothing. it’s a giant empty building now with nothing but a small table, two chairs, some support pillars, and a drinking fountain. that evening, i was able to go back to the store with dan and several other former employees. we played baseball and went rollerblading inside the store. it was an amazing time and i took photos, but they all came out really poorly.

the other big event was jon’s wedding. i went out and bought a fancy new suit, selected some wedding presents, and got to spend the weekend out of state. charice is a good car to have on road trips. some of the more entertaining parts of the evening were the dance-off against bryan (my brother in law) in which i totally got served, having bells put in my hair (”so they can find me if i get drunk” i told people), and trying to think of ways to respond to people that wouldn’t make them feel stupid or offend jenny when they asked when we were getting married. oh, and my closest friend got married.

let me give a brief background on jenny. she’s been my sister’s friend since they were in middle school. any guy with an older sister knows this situation. she would have parties and all her friends would come over and they would all be loud and in pajamas and there were always at least a few that you wanted to get a piece of. well, of all steph’s friends, jenny was the one i always wanted a piece of the most. i first met her when i was 11 years old and i had a big crush on her ever since. well, there was a party a while ago where i got to see jenny again. i’ll cut out the details, but the story ends with her doing the walk of shame the next morning. we continued to see each other pretty frequently, but we have never technically been “dating.” it’s been a year now and i continue to see her on occasion. it’s a weird situation and neither of us knows where we stand, but relationship status is insignificant to me. she’s my friend and we’re kind of dating. but not really. but we still kind of are. but it’s different.

now it’s time for me to discuss my dream job because it’s the topic of the day. the place i’m in now is actually deathly close to my dream job. the only difference is that i start earlier in the morning than i’d like and i’m not making way more money than i know what to do with. i get to work with computers, i learn new things every day, i get to play video games, most of the people i work with have become friends, and every day feels like getting things done while i just hang out instead of like i’m doing actual “work.”

next weekend, i get to go to michigan for a wedding. not just any wedding, though. my friend jon. up until senior year, jon was my best friend all through high school. just before my junior year, jon’s mom died of cancer. this left him in a house with his stepfamily. his own brothers were out on their own. during his senior year, on top of his mom’s recent passing, he had an entire slew of other issues too big for most 17 year olds to deal with, one of which ended up in him moving out of the house for most of his senior year. in that year, he dealt with the biggest avalanche of shit i’ve ever known anyone to have to endure. after he graduated, he moved in with his dad in michigan. as time went on, we saw each other less (conflicting schedules and 200 miles of interstate will do that) and each regrouped with new friends and our own lives. i never really considered how things have turned around for him until lately. it’s weird that we hung out every day for three years, and a large portion of it was helping him deal with bad things in his life. now he’s a college graduate, has a house, and is just over a week away from being married.

tonight i also got news that my friend rod just got accepted for a job in colorado. rod has been talking about getting married to his girlfriend for a while now. if they tie the knot, that’ll make 3 friends i had in high school that are now married and the second to move away. the other friend is my brother in law, which is less weird considering he went from friend to family member.

i’ve been moving along myself, too. i finished school, got a real job, i’ve been living on my own for a while, and now it’s almost time to move again. this weekend i have to go buy a suit and look at apartments. i’m getting more responsibilities at work and there’s a slim chance i could be relocated halfway across the country in the next year. my friends are all moving in separate directions, i’m actually becoming a real adult, and i have all these memories of growing up that seem recent, but happened several years ago. things that happened in high school, or shortly afterwards. hell, even getting my kidney removed was almost a year and a half ago. i don’t even notice the scars anymore. it’s starting to make me feel old, and hell, i don’t even own a dresser. or a bed. my clothes are scattered on my floor, i sleep on a shitty walmart futon, and i feel like an old man at 22. then i realize that i’m only 22 and really, things are just starting for me. it’s a weird feeling. as a kid you always think about what it’s going to be like when you’re an adult, but once it happens, you don’t actually know what to do with it.

i’m not sad or distraught by any of this, it just strikes me as weird. instead of rambling on and on with my thoughts any longer, i will get to the topic of the day: the world will explode in ten minutes. what do i do with the time i have left?

this answer is easy. demo derby. i’d get in charice (my car) and start nailing other cars in the parking lot. hell, screw the parking lot, i’m taking it on the highway. i’ll finally have an excuse to take out all the people that drive so slow because they didn’t anticipate the sun coming up at 8 in the morning and aren’t aware of the visors installed in all cars that keeps the light from shining in their eyes. all those idiots that cause a two mile stretch of road to turn into an hour and a half commute because there’s a car pulled over on the other side of the highway would taste the silver sedan of highway justice as i sideswiped them into the median. just as the countdown was reaching zero, i’d kick on cruise control at 90mph, get in the center lane, unroll my window, and climb on the roof of the car and triumphantly raise both middle fingers to the trail of destruction behind me. i’m going down in a blaze of glory. i’m not an earth-shattering explosion (well, depending on what circle of people you travel with… …ladies) but i’m gonna do my best to compete.

actually, it looks like i’m not that grown up after all. huh.